Ajinkya Rahane will be leading India vs Afghanistan in the absence of Virat Kohli.

Stand-in India skipper Ajinkya Rahane has made it clear that the number one Test unit in the world will not take debutants Afghanistan lightly when the two teams lock horns in the one-off Test that starts on Thursday in Bengaluru. In a historic event, the Asghar Stanikzai-led team will play their maiden five-day game against the best team in the longest format of the game. But Rahane, who is standing in as captain in the absence of Virat Kohli, said that there is no room for complacency in cricket and the hosts will be at their ruthless best. "We are not going to take Afghanistan lightly. They have a decent team... bowlers are good," he said on the eve of the one-off Test.

"As a Test team, we cannot take anyone for granted because cricket is a funny game. We want to go out there and be ruthless.

"We are going to focus on our strengths, our positives. We are not thinking about Afghanistan as well: yes, we respect them as our opponent but it's important for us to go out there and give more than our 100 percent," said the top-order batsman.

Afghanistan might be newcomers but their skipper Stanikzai believes that his spin-bowling arsenal, led by teen sensation Rashid Khan is far superior to the Indian trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav.

However, Rahane refused to draw comparisons between the spin attacks of the two teams but praised the experience of Indian spinners.

"Every member of their team believes that their side is good, that their bowling attack or their batting unit is much better," Rahane said.

"We all know the stats but we don't focus on them. Our spinners, Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep are experienced and quality spinners."

The war-ravaged Afghanistan secured Test status last year along with Ireland, who lost their debut match to Pakistan in Dublin last month.

Since gaining ODI status in 2009, Afghanistan have made giant strides and qualified for their second 50-over World Cup in England and Wales next year. They have also been part of four Twenty20 World Cups.

Rahane concluded his press conference by saying that it would be an "honour" for every Indian player to be part of the match and acknowledged Afghanistan's big moment on the cricket field.